Subscribe to the gold package and get unlimited access to Shamra Academy
Register a new userTesting Lorentz Symmetry using High Energy Astrophysics Observations
92
0
0.0
(
0
)
Authors
Floyd W. Stecker
Ask ChatGPT about the research
No Arabic abstract
We discuss some of the tests of Lorentz symmetry made possible by astrophysical observations of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays, gamma-rays, and neutrinos. These are among the most sensitive tests of Lorentz symmetry violation because they are the highest energy phenomena known to man.
rate research
Read More
High-energy astrophysics observations provide the best possibilities to detect a very small violation of Lorentz invariance, such as may be related to the structure of space-time near the Planck scale. I discuss the possible signatures of Lorentz invariance violation that can be manifested by observing the spectra, polarization, and timing of gamma-rays from active galactic nuclei and gamma-ray bursts. Other sensitive tests are provided by observations of the spectra of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays and very high-energy neutrinos. I also discuss a new time-of-flight analysis of observations of GRB 090510 by the Fermi gamma-ray Space Telescope. These results, based on high-energy astrophysical observations, have fundamental implications for space-time physics and quantum gravity models.
The Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory~(LHAASO) is one of the most sensitive gamma-ray detector arrays currently operating at TeV and PeV energies. Recently the LHAASO experiment detected ultra-high-energy~(UHE; $E_{gamma}gtrsim 100~mathrm{TeV}$) photon emissions up to $1.4~mathrm{PeV}$ from twelve astrophysical gamma-ray sources. We point out that the detection of cosmic photons at such energies can constrain the photon self-decay motivated by superluminal Lorentz symmetry violation~(LV) to a higher level, thus can put strong constraints to certain LV frameworks. Meanwhile, we suggest that the current observation of the PeV-scale photon with LHAASO may provide hints to permit a subluminal type of Lorentz violation in the proximity of the Planckian regime, and may be compatible with the light speed variation at the scale of $3.6times 10^{17}~mathrm{GeV}$ recently suggested from gamma-ray burst~(GRB) time delays. We further propose detecting PeV photons coming from extragalactic sources with future experiments, based on LV-induced threshold anomalies of $e^{+}e^{-}$ pair-production, as a crucial test of subluminal Lorentz violation. We comment that these observations are consistent with a D-brane/string-inspired quantum-gravity framework, the space-time foam model.
Lorentz Invariance Violation (LIV) may be a good observational window on Quantum Gravity physics. Within last few years, all major Gamma-ray experiments have published results from the search for LIV with variable astrophysical sources: gamma-ray bursts with detectors on-board satellites and Active Galactic Nuclei with ground-based experiments. In this paper, the recent time-of-flight studies with unpolarized photons published from the space and ground based observations are reviewed. Various methods used in the time delay searches are described, and their performance discussed. Since no significant time-lag value was found within experimental precision of the measurements, the present results consist of 95% confidence cevel limits on the Quantum Gravity scale on the linear and quadratic terms in the standard photon dispersion relations.
The detection of the high-energy ($sim290$ TeV) neutrino coincident with the flaring blazar TXS 0506+056, the first and only $3sigma$ neutrino-source association to date, provides new, multimessenger tests of the weak equivalence principle (WEP) and Lorentz invariance. Assuming that the flight time difference between the TeV neutrino and gamma-ray photons from the blazar flare is mainly caused by the gravitational potential of the Laniakea supercluster of galaxies, we show that the deviation from the WEP for neutrinos and photons is conservatively constrained to have an accuracy of $10^{-6}-10^{-7}$, which is 3--4 orders of magnitude better than previous results placed by MeV neutrinos from supernova 1987A. In addition, we demonstrate that the association of the TeV neutrino with the blazar flare sets limits on the energy scales of quantum gravity for both linear and quadratic violations of Lorentz invariance (LIV) to $E_{rm QG, 1}>3.2times10^{15}-3.7times10^{16}$ GeV and $E_{rm QG, 2}>4.0times10^{10}-1.4times10^{11}$ GeV. These improve previous limits on both linear and quadratic LIV energy scales in neutrino propagation by 5--7 orders of magnitude.
(ABRIDGED) The Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) will measure the spectra of distant extragalactic sources of high energy gamma-rays. GLAST can look for energy dependent propagation effects from such sources as a signal of Lorentz invariance violation (LIV). Such sources should also exhibit high energy spectral cutoffs from pair production interactions with low energy photons. The properties of such cutoffs can also be used to test LIV. Detectors to measure gamma-ray polarization can look for the depolarizing effect of space-time birefingence predicted by loop quantum gravity. A spaceborne detector array looking down on Earth to study extensive air showers produced by ultrahigh energy cosmic rays can study their spectral properties and look for a possible deviation from the predicted GZK effect as another signal of LIV.
Log in to be able to interact and post comments
comments
Fetching comments
Sign in to be able to follow your search criteria
